This weekend I watched Tom Hank's A Hologram for the King, for the first time. Perhaps not as memorable as his most acclaimed, including The Post, I enjoyed it thoroughly. A sub-theme in the film is how we compete with China. His character had been a board member for Schwinn Bicycle and responsible for shipping manufacturing over to China, only to lose complete control of the market. When asked if he would do something different in hindsight, he responds, 'It was complicated.' The implication was the outcome was regrettable, but some things, like swimming against the tide are impossible.
(Photo Credit: NOAA)
With the Tom Hanks movie in mind, I asked a friend today what he thought the western world could do against this tide (or it feels more like the swirl of water down a drain). My friend is an exec for a tech company, and he replied that for manufacturing, U.S. companies should focus on the high-end, high-profit products and simply leave the lower profit products to the lowest labor source.
No doubt execs from Australia to China to U.K. would like the same opportunity. This past week Bernie Sanders announced a Guaranteed Jobs Plan. It would guarantee everyone a job at $15 an hour with health benefits. My many Republican friends scoffed, as well as several Democrat friends and colleagues.
The world population is 7 billion, almost double of the 4 billion on the planet in 1974. We could not feed the planet without modern agricultural efficiency. Currently we are on a runaway treadmill - we must continually develop technology to keep the planet alive. Dare I suggest that first, we need to address population growth? Second, we need a big picture economic strategy. It is more than tariffs. It is more than training and education. We must find a strategy for all humans to have a quality of life and better future for their children.
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